Goodnight Gray
by grayluki
Summary: In which Gray can't sleep, and the only person who can help him is Lucy.


Gray jolted up, breathing heavily. He wiped the sweat off his forehead and groaned. _Where the hell are all these nightmares coming from?_ he asked himself as he slipped out of bed and went to the kitchen. For two weeks, nightmares plagued the ice mage. Every night it was the same thing; he would wake up startled, get a drink of water, and come back to bed unable to sleep for the rest of the night. At first, it wasn't that much of a problem, but after two weeks with no sleep, it was bothering him.

Gray filled a water glass, drank it, and set the water on the counter. He sighed and stared at the glass. _I'm not getting any sleep here, maybe if I wasn't alone I'd feel better_. But who would let him in their house at this hour? Erza would most likely murder him for waking her up at this hour and there was _no way_ that he would go to Natsu, who would laugh at him for having nightmares.

The only person left he could think of was Lucy. Her house was warm, quiet, and always smelled nice. It was perfect. He was positive that he would be able to fall asleep there. The place (and Lucy) calmed him. There was only one problem; she would most likely freak out and yell at him for turning up so late at night. He sighed and looked at his door. It was either get yelled at by Lucy or not sleep for yet another night.

With his mind made up, Gray grabbed one of his shirts off of the floor and slipped it on as he exited his house. He strolled down the street silently, making his way towards his teammate's apartment. When he reached the apartment, Gray hesitated to knock on the door. Finally, Gray knocked quietly at the door, so quiet it barely made a noise. He tried again, and this time knocked a bit harder.

Just as he was about to give up and leave, Gray heard Lucy's feet as she slowly walked towards the door. He stood there wordlessly as she opened the door a little, peeking outside to see who was at her door. "What the-Gray? Why are you here?" she asked before yawning. Gray blushed and looked down. He felt too embarrassed to speak. "U-Uh, I came to stay here with you. I've been having some...bad dreams lately, and I thought I would sleep better with you," Gray muttered and rubbed the back of his neck.

Lucy stared at him for what seemed like forever before she opened the door all the way, stepping aside to let him in. Gray looked up, clearly surprised. He walked in and smiled softly at Lucy. "Thanks Luce," he whispered and walked over to the couch. He plopped down and ran his fingers through his hair.

Lucy walked up to him and sat next to him. It was soundless in the little apartment for a few minutes, but Lucy broke the silence. "So, you can't sleep because of your nightmares?" Gray looked down and nodded. He felt a small hand rub his back and looked over to see a smiling Lucy. "It's alright. It happens to all of us. Hopefully you'll get some sleep here." Lucy's hand took hold of Gray's and she squeezed it. "I'm just curious about one thing. Why did you come to me? It's not like I have a problem with it or anything. I mean, you're my friend and I have no problem helping you out, but there must be some reason you came to me since-"

Gray stood up, which stopped her rambling. He held onto her hand tightly and helped her off the couch. "Sorry," she said softly. Gray pulled her into a hug in reply, which caught her by surprise. "Being here makes me feel...I don't know, safer? I don't know how to say it. It's also you. You're always so nice and being around you makes me feel better," he said.

Lucy didn't know what to do. She was hugging him back, tightly, and blushing madly. She didn't know what to say, what could she say? That he made her feel safer too? That she liked being around him? It all sounded weird to her. Everything was weird right now. Gray was normally not the type of person to open up so easily, he was usually so quiet and reserved.

Lucy's train of thoughts came to a stop when he let go of her and made his way towards the couch. "What are you doing?" she asked. Gray turned around and sat on the couch. "Going to sleep. What else would I be doing?" Lucy blushed and played with her thumbs. "O-Oh, nothing. I just thought you would want to sleep on the bed." Now it was Gray's turn to blush. "I just thought you would want to sleep alone."

The two stayed quiet for a while before Lucy took a deep breath. "You can sleep with me. I don't mind." Her hands dropped to her side and she walked over to her bed. Lucy sat down, avoiding his eyes. What if Gray thought that she was weird? What if she made things too awkward? "If you don't want to then it's-"

"Lucy, it's alright," Gray reassured her. He stood up and walked over to the bed. The blonde scooted over to one side and got under the covers. She laid her head on a pillow and watched Gray as he slipped under the blankets. She stayed frozen, unsure of what to do next. Lucy kept her eyes on Gray, who turned to face her. "Thanks Lucy," he said quietly. Without waiting for a response, he pulled her in closer to him.

Lucy didn't know what else to do, other than hug him back. She wrapped her arms around him and closed her eyes, enjoying every minute. Before tonight, she had never questioned her feelings towards her friend and teammate, but now she was confused. _Shouldn't I be pushing him away? We're friends, I'm pretty sure I already made things awkward...this will just complicate thing even more!_

The two lay there in the dark, both trying to sleep, but failing. Millions of thoughts circled around in their minds. Gray fought to keep his eyes open. He knew that he came here to sleep, but now that he was here, he wanted to stay awake with Lucy. They didn't even have to talk. He just wanted to stay with her.

Lucy looked straight in front of her and smiled softly. She decided to end her mental debate. Right now, it didn't matter how she felt about Gray. "You should sleep," she muttered, and moved closer to him, burying her face in his neck. Gray sighed and closed his eyes.

Soon, he found himself drifting to sleep. It was around 3 in the morning, but at least he was getting some sleep. He could hear Lucy's light breathing and occasional sleepy murmur, and he smiled to himself everytime he heard her whisper his name. _Thanks Luce_.


End file.
